Bin Laden's brother in-law killed

Unidentified gunmen have shot and killed a brother-in-law of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid on his home in Madagascar, his brother says.

Malek Khalifa told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television that the killers' aim appeared to have been to rob his brother, Jamal Khalifa, who mined and traded precious stones in Madagascar.

Malek Khalifa said a gang of 20 to 30 gunmen broke into his brother's bedroom, shot him dead "in cold blood" and stole his belongings.

Arabiya reported the businessman was staying at a precious stones mine he owns in Madagascar when he was killed early on Wednesday.

"We still don't have a complete picture of the incident," Malek Khalifa told Arabiya by telephone from Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Jeddah.

"I don't think it was politically motivated," he added in response to a question.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, in what it said was the last interview given by the leader of the Abu Sayyaf group before his death, on Monday quoted Khaddafy Janjalani as saying that his group had received funds from two men close to bin Laden, identifying one of them as Jamal Khalifa.

But CNN reported on Tuesday that Jamal Khalifa called reports he had funded the Abu Sayyaf group in return for volunteers to fight in Afghanistan "completely false".

"I have never given any money to any group or persons that include the Abu Sayyaf," CNN quoted him as writing in an email.

Malek Khalifa also denied his brother was involved in political activity, and said that apart from family ties, Jamal Khalifa had no links to bin Laden, a Saudi national who was stripped of his citizenship long before the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Mr Khalifa says the Saudi authorities have been informed of the killing.